The Keeper: The Legend of Omar Khayyam

Omar Khayyam was a Persian astronomer, mathematician, and poet in the 11th Century, famous today for Edward Fitzgerald's 1859 translations of his works into English. The Keeper is a well-meaning and handsome (if a bit stolid, and poorly edited at times) attempt to render his life meaningful today, written by Iranian-American lawyer/filmmaker Kayvan Mashayekh.

To keep things relevant, Mashayekh presents through the eyes of a young Iranian-American boy in Houston (Adam Echahly) who is a descendant of the family who takes it upon himself to "keep" and transmit the story. The title character (Bruno Lastra) is presented in an admirable if a bit sycophantic light, as is his love story with Darya (Marie Espinosa), to whom he composed most of his most famous love poems. The scenes (set in Uzbekistan, with period jaunts elsewhere) are ably filmed and mostly elegant, although the level of the actors' engagement doesn't rise above a slow simmer most of the times. The principal conflict is between Khayyam and lifelong friend Hassan (Christopher Simpson), which Mashayekh hopes to make emblematic of a host of larger conflicts - between science and religion, between universalism and sectarianism, between worldliness and Islamic separatism. It succeeds only in pieces. The editing is also a bit spotty, and at certain points I felt that too much of the story had been cut.

The film is one of those that serves a valuable public function; informing the movie-going world about Khayyam's legacy and the larger history of Islamic science and mathematics is a meaningful one, and I saw a host of Iranian-American families at the screening taking part in their cultural heritage. It doesn't win on purely cinematic terms, but it's an engaging and wholly good-hearted exercise regardless.

The movie begins with this long haired, dorky kid whose an Iranian-American in search of his ancestry -- or something. His older brother gets hospitalized and begins relaying the story of Omar Khayyam to the kid. Surprise though! He dies about half way through and so the kid makes a trek to London to hook up with some old lady who has a copy of the book -- because no one else on earth could possibly possess such a thing.

Lady tucks in the kid in front of the fireplace. Kid somehow ends up in Iran talking to his grandfather with a horrible, indistinguishable accent (by the way, everyone has a horrible accent in this movie) who completes the story for him.

Meanwhile, the actual tale and life of the man gets lost between all this garbage. Is it there to fill time? I have no idea. I was tempted to stop the film after about 15 minutes but decided to see it through to the end. Glad I didn't pay for it.

The only thing amusing about this is that the Sultan looks sort of like Steve O, but probably doesn't do anything demented involving staplers. This pic is bad even by after school special standards.

Pick up a translation of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam and read it instead. Nice movie for 5 year olds -- I guess. Creators were no doubt well intentioned, but when you're dealing with a man of this stature there's no room for error, otherwise it's just flat out disrespect. If you are a lover of Islamic culture and history just avoid this.

Hmm -- and some of these overly positive reviews seem mighty suspect, especially when a couple are structured identically.

Wow, this turned out to be quite an interesting film! Through the first part of the movie, while the characters were being developed, I found myself wondering just where the film was taking me... and how long it would take to get there. By the second half though, the script proceeds quite well and leaves you with a feeling of just the slightest bit of understanding as to how things have developed not just within the Persian region, but all over the region. Initially I was kind of hoping more for the unveiling of the Assassins and all the action that would bring (this didn't really happen, though was touched upon briefly), but what I received was a tale told in two times of how people develop and affect those around themselves, as well as, within themselves. Don't get me wrong, the film isn't all philosophy, but it does weave a tale worth telling... if you pay attention.

I really enjoyed the film once I came to the realization that it was not going to be action-packed, the tale itself was well worth it!

I went to see this film only to support the independent industry, but ended up truly enjoying the movie. The characters are memorable, the story itself is wonderful, the acting is superb, and the music is just the icing on the cake. This movie makes me want to connect with others, and apparently the other viewers felt the same as we were all discussing the message afterwords.

For a film of this magnitude to be someone's first film is truly astonishing. Kayvan has amazing talent and yet is humble.

...the most important thing your elders can give you is their words, their stories, pieces of their hearts.

Are you going to be a Keeper?

At the beginning I just followed my friends to support the independent film industry. After I watched it for the first time, I felt in love with the movie. I am a detail oriented person and love to watch movies, which keeps you busy to catch very small details and Kayvan packed it with so many details. After the show he added much more details to it by explaining about the cast and all the background thoughts, actions, struggles. This made me to go back twice to see the movie. For a film without Hollywood support, it was amazing to see such a perfection. To me Kayvan is a very talented young director and soon he will be very successful in his profession. I have a great respect for the people who are fighting for their passion! Thanks Kayvan & Co. You will have always my support!